01:13 – Epilogue
Episode 1: The Original Blueprints
Epilogue
The airport bar was closed so Ned sat on a stool behind the metal gate sipping a Summit Porter. Every few moments he turned to look to his left or to his right and after satisfying himself on some point he turned back. While he faced forward his eyes searched the bar mirror for anything behind him. Out beyond the gate lay the boarding area for gate twenty-one where six other people waited, each showing the early morning mix of anticipation and weariness. Beyond that, beyond the floor to ceiling windows sat a Delta 747 a shiny orange in the dawn light.
Ned blinked once and then closed his eyes to rub out the weariness. When he opened his eyes again there was a beautiful brunette on the stool next to him. On reflex alone his pistol appeared in his hand pointed at the woman. She smiled, closed lips stretching tight across her face.
“We both know that won’t do any good, Ned,” she whispered.
She stretched out one arm and rested three manicured and red-nailed fingers on Ned’s wrist. Her eyes glowed yellow for a moment and returned to normal.
“I suppose for someone like you holding on to that is a lot like holding your dick.”
The woman removed her fingers from Ned’s wrist and turned to face the bar mirror. She lifted the brown beer bottle and sipped from it, making a face as she did.
“Bitter.”
“Brenda?” asked Ned.
She put the bottle back down on the bar and looked Ned in his eyes.
“Brenda isn’t assigned to you any longer. Now put the toy away and I won’t have to call the men with the rubber gloves. How did you ever manage to get that thing through inspection?”
Ned flashed a smile and put the gun away. The woman twirled around on the stool until she faced the boarding area and the jet beyond.
“So, skipping town?”
“Free country,” he replied.
“That so?”
There was a television in the boarding area turned to CNN. The volume suddenly increased and the background changed to video of a horrific plane crash.
“A Jet Blue 747 crashed just south of Dallas, Texas,” said the reader. “One hundred thirteen were on board.”
“Free country,” said the woman. “Go where you want.”
Ned stared transfixed at the screen. When he turned back the woman was gone. He snatched the bottle from the counter and was about to take a drink and then put it back down. He reached in back of the bar and produced a bottle of scotch whiskey from which he extracted the pour spout. Cleared of the obstruction Ned lifted the bottle to his lips and drank deeply.
